Chevy Bolt Production Starts

[Gorehamj]

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
11-07-2016

General Motors' Chevy division is now building Bolts at the Orion plant. The Bolt will be the first affordable battery electric vehicle with a range of over 200 miles. The EPA has rated the range of the Bolt at 238 miles. GM will beat Tesla to this market by at least a year, possibly two.

 

Reuters' Joseph White reports that at the Orion plant about one in four of the vehicles coming down the line are Bolts. The Sonic sedan and hatch are also made on the line. General motors has built flexibility into the production of the bolt so that it can adapt to customer demand.

 

Unlike Tesla, GM also has a captive customer base ready for Bolts. Its Lyft ride-sharing network will be offered Bolts. By leveraging its relationships with the ride sharing network Chevy could possibly find many more home for its EV than were it to just sell it alongside its fleet in Chevy showrooms. Chevy also has more experience than another current automaker but Ford in fleet sales and sales to municipalities, something Tesla has almost zero experience with.